THE Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to protect people at Cygnet Wast Hills in Alvechurch and told the hospital to make improvements to ensure people’s safety.

CQC undertook an unannounced inspection of the hospital in May, after receiving concerns from commissioners regarding patients being at risk of injury, poor communication from leaders and a lack of activities for patients.

Cygnet Wast Hills is an independent hospital providing assessment, treatment and care to people with a complex learning disability and autistic people.

Following the inspection, the provider was told to submit an action plan within 24 hours that described how it was addressing the concerns found.

This inspection saw the overall rating for Cygnet Wast Hills move from good to inadequate.

It is rated good for being caring and responsive, requires improvement for being effective and inadequate for being safe and well-led.

Deborah Ivanova, deputy chief inspector for people with a learning disability and autistic people, said: “When we inspected Cygnet Wast Hills, we were not assured all reasonable steps were being taken to protect people from avoidable harm.

“Staff didn’t take the time to interact with patients during observation periods and we saw one patient sat alone in their room with the door closed.

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“We were concerned that three patients had harmed themselves on more than one occasion whilst on high level observation, when staff should have been watching them closely.

“One person had been able to bang their head repeatedly in the bathroom for example and although staff increased their observations, care records showed this had already been recorded as happening three times previously, so staff weren’t learning how to intervene early and prevent this happening.

“These incidents weren’t always recorded either, which increased the chances of them reoccurring.

“We saw a lack of meaningful activities for patients with many just watching TV and lying on the sofa. However, managers had recognised this needed to change and were working on a project to improve this so patients could enjoy activities and live more fulfilling lives at the service.

“We spoke with Cygnet about addressing our findings as a priority and told leaders to submit a report detailing what action it will take to address the issues raised.

“We will continue to closely monitor the service and will return shortly to check on progress.”

Inspectors found several areas of concern, including; some patients continued to harm themselves despite having completed risk assessments and during high level nursing observations and the service had not always managed patient safety incidents well and staff did not always report incidents appropriately.

However, inspectors also found most staff were knowledgeable about patient needs and could describe their likes and dislikes and knew how to care for them safely.

A spokesperson for Cygnet Wast Hills said: “Whilst we are naturally disappointed by the overall rating, we are pleased that the CQC rated our service as Good for being Caring and Responsive to people’s needs.

"Since the inspection last May, the necessary actions to address the CQC’s concerns have either been completed or are well advanced, we have monthly assurance meetings with the CQC which are going well and commissioners who have visited the service have been positive about environmental improvements, communication and patient activities.

“Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of our service users.

"Although we recognise the concerns raised by the CQC, and take them seriously, we are reassured that our service users said they felt safe and happy and that our staff treated them with compassion and kindness and were available to help them when they needed them."